Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 35974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
For several long moments, neither of us spoke. I could feel her heart hammering against my chest, her breath coming in short gasps that matched my own. When I finally found the strength to lift my head, she was watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Something between wonder and fear, maybe?
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” I muttered against her skin, feeling her pulse flutter beneath my lips. “You’re fuckin’ amazing. You OK?”
She nodded slowly. “I’m… yeah. I’m good. Wonderful, actually.” She gave me a tentative smile. “That was --”
“Fuckin’ intense.” I finished her sentence. Then she smiled. A wonderful, glorious, beautiful smile. And I… was… done. “You’re so fuckin’ perfect,” I whispered. I hadn’t meant to say the words out loud, but I would never take them back. They were the fucking truth.
She finally relaxed completely beneath me, her fingers tracing lazy patterns on my back. “Not so bad yourself -- for an old man.”
I lifted my head to look at her, finding her eyes sparkling with mischief despite the exhaustion evident on her face. “Old man, huh? Give me five minutes and I’ll show you what this old man can do.”
She laughed, the sound warming something deep inside me. I eased out of her carefully, dealing with the condom before pulling her against me. She came willingly, curling into my side like she belonged there. And she did.
“You know this changes things,” I said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “Between us.”
“I figured as much when you started talking shit about claiming me.” Her voice was light, but I could hear the uncertainty hovering.
I scowled at her. “That ain’t just talk, woman. You’re mine and I’ll kill any motherfucker who says otherwise.” Her expression shifted, then. She closed part of herself off from me, and everything inside me rebelled. I never wanted secrets between us. Nothing. But especially not her feelings. “Hannah?” I tilted my head, giving her my best “don’t fuck with me” expression. “Don’t shut me out. I’m an idiot when it comes to women and feelings and shit, but I never want to hurt you in any way, so you’re gonna have to tell me what’s goin’ on in the beautiful head of yours.”
She glanced away. Her throat worked as she swallowed several times. “This whole ‘claiming me’ bit.” She cleared her throat but didn’t continue.
“Honey, say what you gotta say.” I stroked damp hair away from her face. My hands were scarred, tattooed and rough. Her skin was… not. She was so soft and delicate, yet the fine muscles in her body spoke of her strength. The fact she’d hunted men who hurt women, deliberately putting herself in a position to be hurt, knowing from the beginning she intended to get hurt, told me all I needed to know about her core strength. Hannah was the perfect old lady for an ex-con biker like me. She’d need every ounce of that strength to be by my side.
Hannah bit her lip, then met my gaze. “I need to know if this ‘claiming’ business is just some kind of possessive biker thing like it is at home, or if there’s more to it. I’ll wear a property patch because I know it’s as much for my protection as it is to let the world know I’m yours. But I’m not interested in being anyone’s property.” She looked away as if she thought this was a deal breaker. Almost as if she expected me to be a bastard. I’ll admit, before I met Hannah, the only reason I’d have taken an old lady would have been to seal an alliance I desperately needed. Before. Now? I didn’t care if my whole club burnt down around me. I would protect Hannah with my Goddamned life and consider death my ultimate service to her. “I’ve spent too long fighting for others to let myself be owned.”
I cupped her face, my thumb tracing her cheekbone. “Baby girl, I don’t want to own you. I want to belong to you as much as I want you to belong to me. I want you by my side. It means I got your back, always, the same way I expect you to have mine. It means I’m yours and you’re mine, and we protect what’s ours.” I held her gaze steadily. “It ain’t about possession. It’s about partnership.”
“You promise.” She made it a demand. “Because I will go my own way when I don’t agree with you. I didn’t go against Gunnar when I knew he was making the wrong decision, and I will never put myself or anyone I love in that position again. I understand why he felt he needed to protect me, and I’m more grateful than I could ever express to him. But I’m never doing that again, Knuckles. I don’t care how angry you get.”